Beschreibung:
<jats:p>This paper presents an analysis of a generalized version of the coupon collector problem, in which the collector receives <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> coupons each run and chooses the least-collected coupon so far. In the asymptotic case when the number of coupons <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> goes to infinity, we show that, on average, (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>log<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>) / <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> + (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> / <jats:italic>d</jats:italic>)(<jats:italic>m</jats:italic> − 1)log log<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> + <jats:italic>O</jats:italic>(<jats:italic>mn</jats:italic>) runs are needed to collect <jats:italic>m</jats:italic> sets of coupons. An exact algorithm is also developed for any finite case to compute the exact mean number of runs. Numerical examples are provided to verify our theoretical predictions.</jats:p>